![]() ![]() These include Michael Collins, In the Name of the Father, and most recently, RTÉ’s Rebellion drama series. This wing is probably most familiar to popular audiences due to its use as a film location for some important movies through the years. During he Irish Civil War many prisoners in this wing went on hunger strike. Punishment in this wing was carried out in a few underground chambers, which were almost completely dark. Members of the Fenian movement were held here in the late 1860s. Light in the cells was restricted to a small window placed too high up for the inmate to see out – thus encouraging them to turn their faces heavenward. The huge skylight was intended to fill the space with cleansing rays of sunlight. Light is particularly important in this East Wing. Modelled on Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon, every cell is visible from a central platform. This new wing was built in the 1860s, to the design of architect John McCurdy, and reflected the new ideals of Victorian prison theory. In its earlier history, the West Wing had been used for the worst-off of prisoners, such as those during the Famine who were imprisoned for stealing food, and those detained due to the Vagrancy Act. This wing was also the scene of the famous 1921 escape by Ernie O’Malley, Simon Donnelly, and Frank Teeling. Leaders of the Easter Rising in 1916, including Patrick Pearse, Thomas MacDonagh, Constance Markievicz, Thomas Clarke, and Michael Mallin were also held in the West Wing, as were women Republican prisoners during the Civil War. The couple were married by Father Eugene McCarthy the scene was lit only by prison-issue candles, and excepting their vows, they were bound to remain silent. Assign prisoners to work in both the Workshop and the Mail Room. Notable political inmates who were incarcerated in this wing include members of the United Irishmen after the 17 Rebellions. Perhaps the most famous incident to have taken place in this chapel was the eleventh-hour wedding of Joseph Plunkett and Grace Gifford in May 1916. (5 x 6), a Chapel (6 x 6), and a Mail Room (7 x 6). When first built, there was no glass in the windows, and no heating or light. This part of the Gaol is gloomy, dark, and cold. There are now seventy-nine cells, but originally there were fewer, as extensions were added throughout the nineteenth century. Today, just one of those wings survives in its original state, and that is the West Wing. When the Gaol was first opened in 1796, there were two symmetrical wings flanking a central block. ![]()
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